House panel chairperson seeks Zuckerberg apology

New Delhi: The chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on communications and information technology, Nishikant Dubey, on Monday demanded a personal apology from Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg over Facebook removing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's video addressing students on National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exam paper leaks on July 28. He added that the company's safe-harbour protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act should be withdrawn if Zuckerberg failed to do so.

Several committee members said Meta's expression of regret was not enough and called for accountability to be fixed and legal action taken.

Also Read: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has no business taking down PM's post: MeitY Secretary S Krishnan


However, opposition members in the panel stressed that social media must retain space for dissent and that anti-government content should not automatically be viewed as anti-national, according to people familiar with the matter. But the committee was unanimous on the need for stronger action against social media content involving child sexual abuse and the sexual abuse of women, they said. The remarks came after a more than three-hour meeting of the committee with Meta, Google, X, Snapchat and YouTube executives. Union home secretary Govind Mohan and electronics and information technology secretary S Krishnan also appeared before the panel.

"They themselves admitted that the video was taken down for five hours and remained unavailable from 12.30 am to 5 am. This is a very serious matter. The apology must come from Zuckerberg himself," Dubey told media persons after the meeting. Meta executives told the panel that the company was ready to apologise for the error relating to the Prime Minister's post, according to the people cited earlier.

"If Zuckerberg does not apologise, the safe-harbour protection available to them under Section 79 should be withdrawn," Dubey said.

He was referring to the legal provision that protects internet service providers and social media platforms from legal liability for third-party content in certain conditions. Meta had earlier attributed the removal of the video to an error and restored it. The electronics and information technology ministry had found the company's explanation inadequate.